Helping Children When a Family Member Has Cancer: Dealing With Diagnosis

How children react to a cancer diagnosis in the family often depends on how their parents or other close adults handle the crisis. Kids learn through their parents' behavior. Although parents know this, they are under a great deal of stress and have their own intense feelings of fear and uncertainty.

A child might also be affected differently, depending on whether they've known someone with cancer before, and whether or not that person recovered.

With the right kind of help, parents and their children can and do learn to cope well with cancer and its treatments.